Assemble Revisited
by steampunkqueen2489
Summary: Another (newer) version of my story 'Assemble', but told from the pov of my oc, Madison Koehler aka. Edge. It goes with along with the Avengers movie with the addition of my oc, Madison.
1. Chapter 1: The Crisis

(Another (newer) version of my story 'Assemble', but told from the pov of my oc, Madison Koehler aka. Edge.)

-Part 1: The Crisis-

My name is Madison Koehler, but some people call me Edge because daggers, knives, and swords are kind of my thing. I'm an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., just like my father was, and his friend, Nick Fury. One day, I experienced something that would change my life forever. It's a day I'll never forget. I was stationed on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, which actually, at the time, happened to be traveling on the water when Nick Fury, Agent Phil Coulson, and Agent Maria Hill came on board. They looked shaken up, and I could tell right away something was wrong. Nick walked to the middle of the room, like he was about to say something. The look on his face told me that whatever was coming next couldn't be good. I've known Nick Fury for as long as I can remember. He and my father, Nathan Koehler, were agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. together, and Nick was always like family to me. My parents died in a car accident when I was eighteen, and I never had any siblings, so I consider Nick to be the only family I have left. Needless to say, I know Nick Fury pretty well. But, even I couldn't have guessed what he said next.

"Attention, agents. This is an emergency situation. We are at war." he told us. War? With who? Had another country declared war on us? I know there are a lot of countries out there who don't like the United States, but, war all of a sudden, just like that?

"With who?" I asked.

"A powerful being named Loki. We just came from one of our S.H.I.E.L.D. bases. Loki stole a powerful artifact called the Tesseract and declared war on humanity." Nick explained. I knew a little about the Tesseract. It was an artifact that was fished out of the ocean when they were looking for the war hero, Captain America. It generated energy of some kind, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was studying it for something. That was really all the information I had on it. It was all the information I was allowed to have. I knew a little about Loki, only what I've heard in stories. I didn't know how much truth there was to them. Loki was from Asgard, and he was the son of the god, Odin, and brother to Thor, the God of Thunder. I only knew what my mother told me of the legends. But, if even just a little bit of those were true, the Tesseract in Loki's hands would be truly dangerous.

"Loki also took two of our own people. He's controlling them somehow, making them do his bidding." Nick said. He could do something like that? And, he had the nerve to take our own agents?!

"Who did he take?" I asked.

"Dr. Eric Selvig and Agent Clint Barton." Nick answered. I was in shock. I had met Eric Selvig. He was an excellent scientist and a good man. He and his colleague, Jane Foster had even supposedly met Thor. Thor and Jane had even been together as a couple for a while, but that didn't last. I wondered if Loki had taken Dr. Selvig on purpose. There had to be a connection. Clint Barton I had known for a long time. He was an amazing agent and another good man. Agent Barton and Agent Natasha Romanoff were two of the first people I met when I joined S.H.I.E.L.D., and, other than Fury, they're still the two I'm closest with. If I had a best friend, Natasha Romanoff would be it. Natasha and Clint were always close, like close, close, more than just friends. If Natasha knew about this, she would be really broken up over it, though she probably wouldn't let anybody know it.

"Does Agent Romanoff know?" I asked.

"Not yet. She's away in Russia on a mission." Nick said.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked.

"I have to meet with the council and we'll decide what to do." Nick said. He walked away down the hall, heading for his meeting with the council. The council was useless. They sat in their office and gave us orders, having no idea what it's really like out here in the world. And, they never listened to any of Nick's ideas. I waited with Phil and Maria for Nick Fury's meeting with the council to be over. About an hour later, Nick came walking up to us.

"Well, sir?" Maria Hill asked.

"We're putting the Avengers Initiative into action." Nick said.

"But, I thought the council shot down the Avengers Initiative." I said. The Avengers Initiative was an idea Nick Fury had, a damn good idea. They would put together a team of special people to protect the world in ways average people couldn't. They even had some candidates picked out, but the council shot the idea down.

"Phase Two isn't ready yet. We need to do something now. Even they had to agree to it." Nick said. He wasted no time duling out orders.

"Coulson, contact agent Romanoff. We also need to get in touch with Tony Stark and Dr. Bruce Banner. I'm going to talk to Steve Rogers. Hill, you and Koehler stay here and wait for our guests. They'll be coming here." Nick said. There was a collective "Yes, sir." from all of us, and we all got to work. While I waited, I decided to do a little reading up on the people we were gathering, and on our enemy, Loki.


	2. Chapter 2: The Group

-Part 2: The Group-

A little while later, both Phil and Nick came back, and Natasha was with them.

"Natasha." I said. Even under the circumstances, I was glad to see her again.

"Maddie. It's been a while." she said. Natasha was the only person besides my parents that called me 'Maddie'.

"Our guests are here. Agent Romanoff, Agent Koehler, I want you two to go outside and welcome them." Nick told us.

"Yes sir." both of us said, as we headed for the elevator to the outside of the helicarrier. When we got outside, I could see a man standing there, looking around at everything, kind of like it was all new to him. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, and he was dressed in older style clothes. I recognized his face from one of the files I'd read. It was Captain Steve Rogers, who was also the war hero, Captain America. He was someone who's very presence deserved respect. He may have looked like just a regular guy, but this was Captain America we're talking about. Captain America is the epitome of good and decency and righteousness. The fact that I was about to meet him made me nervous, and I could feel my body tense up as we got closer. Just having him here felt like a huge honor in itself. Natasha, though, didn't seem fazed in the least, though I always wondered if there was anything thay actually could faze her. Although, I knew this business with Clint probably had in some way or another. But, then again, she was one of the best spies there was, the infamous Black Widow. If something did bother her, she didn't let it show.

"Captain Rogers." Natasha said, "I'm Agent Natasha Romanoff and this is agent Madison Koehler."

"Nice to meet you." he said, smiling politely as he shook hands with Natasha, then me.

"It was crazy around here when they pulled you out of the ice. I thought Coulson was going to swoon." Natasha said as we started walking, "Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards? They're vintage. He's very proud." I laughed a little at her comment. It was just so typical Natasha. Although, the funniest part about it was that it was true. Phil did have vintage Captain America trading cards. He was, like, Captain America's biggest fan. I'd known Phil for a while, not as long as I'd known Natasha and Clint, though. Phil was a nice guy and all, but a little soft for an agent. I could see another man coming from the other direction. He had dark hair and dark eyes, and he was wearing a purple dress shirt and khakis. He was looking around nervously, like he was uncomfortable being there. I recognized him from one of the files, too. He was Dr. Bruce Banner, a scientist who had an accident with gamma radiation. When he gets angry enough, he turns into The Hulk, a giant green creature, who people describe as a violent monster, although l wasn't so sure just how much of a monster he really was. Dangerous, definitely, but, I wasn't sure he was a monster. Though, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous having him there, but if Nick Fury trusted him, then, I guess I did, too.

"Dr. Banner." Steve said, shaking hands with him, "Word is you can find the cube."

"Is that the... only word on me?" Dr. Banner asked somewhat nervously.

"The only word I care about." Steve answered without batting an eyelash. That was my first real impression of Steve Rogers, and I realized he really was everything he was supposed to be. Bruce seemed to relax a little, realizing that no one was judging him because of The Hulk. I felt bad for him. It wasn't his fault, but I was sure there were a lot of people who hated him because of The Hulk.

"Must be strange for you, all of this." Bruce said to Steve. Just then, a group of soldiers jogged by.

"That's kind of familiar, actually." Steve said.

"Dr. Banner, I'm Agent Madison Koehler, and this is Agent Natasha Romanoff." I introduced myself and Natasha.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Koehler." Bruce said, shaking my hand, "I've already met Agent Romanoff. She was the one who informed me about our... situation."

"We might want to step inside. It's about to get hard to breath." Natasha said.

"You want me in a submerged metal container?" Bruce asked.

"Not exactly." I said. The helicarrier's turbine engines kicked on, and it started to lift out of the water.

"Oh, no, this is much worse." Bruce said.

"We better get inside." I said. We got on the elevator, and it took us down to the main area of the helicarrier. I noticed Maria Hill watching Steve Rogers when we walked in. It was something I found odd, because there's not a whole lot that can take Maria's focus away from work. Maria is cool, but she's very serious, and very work-oriented. Nick Fury introduced himself to Dr. Banner, and Bruce asked Nick how long he was going to have to be there.

"Once we find the Tesseract, you're in the wind." Nick told him.

"And, exactly where are you with that?" Bruce asked. Nick explained to Steve and Bruce some of the equipment we had on the helicarrier we were using to try and find the Tesseract. I noticed Natasha looking at a photo of Clint Barton on one of the screens. The look on her face confirmed everything I'd already known, that she was worried about him. Although, somebody that wasn't as close to her may not have noticed anything. Natasha was always subtle when it came to her real emotions.

"Agent Romanoff." Nick said, "Show Dr. Banner to his lab."

"Of course." Natasha said, "You're gonna love it, doc. It's got all the toys." Dr. Banner followed her off down the hall.

It was a little while after that, we got word that Loki was attacking a huge formal party in Stuttgart, Germany. This would be the first time we would actually come face to face with Loki. Steve got dressed in his Captain America uniform, which, in itself was an inspiring sight. We got into the jet and flew to Stuttgart. Natasha and I stayed in the jet while we let Captain America out to confront Loki. Natasha and I could see the confrontation from the jet. Natasha hovered the jet over top of them.

"Loki, stand down and drop the weapon." Natasha told him over the pa system. He took a shot at us with his staff, then continued fighting with Steve. Seeing Captain America fight in person was an inspiring sight for sure. Even then, I wasn't sure exactly how much of a match he would be for Loki. Natasha tried to target Loki, but they were moving around too much for her to get a lock on him.

"They're all over the place. I can't get a lock on him." Natasha said.

"Damn it. What now?" I said. We had no choice but to leave the fight to Captain America. Wasn't there anything we could do? Just then, the song 'Shoot To Thrill' by ACDC came on over the pa system.

"What the...?" I said. I looked over at Natasha, but she didn't seem near as surprised as I was. The look on her face was more annoyed than surprised. Clearly, she knew something I didn't. Then, a voice came over the pa.

"Did you miss me, Agent Romanoff?"

It was a voice that sounded familiar to me, though I couldn't place where or when I'd heard it before. I looked over at Natasha, who just sighed. I saw something shooting through the sky. When it landed on the ground next to Captain America, I could see that it was Iron Man, who, underneath the suit, was the billionaire genius, Tony Stark. That was it! That was where I heard that voice. Tony Stark was on tv all the time. I'd seen him and heard him on tv. He and Natasha apparently already knew each other. Iron Man shot Loki, who went flying a few feet away. Cap and Tony looked at each other.

"Mr. Stark." Cap said.

"Captain." Tony said. They walked up to Loki, who was sitting on the ground. Tony aimed a bunch of guns and lasers at Loki.

"Make a move, Reindeer Games." he said. Loki put his hands up in surrender. He was surrendering all of a sudden? That didn't make sense. He was overly confident just a few minutes ago during his fight with Cap. Why now was he doing a complete one eighty and surrendering? Was Iron Man showing up enough to intimidate him?

"Good move." Iron Man said. Natasha landed the jet, and Cap and Iron Man brought him inside. They sat him down in one of the seats and belted him in. We took off again, heading towards the helicarrier, where we were going to detain him.

"Who's your copilot, Agent Romanoff?" Tony Stark asked. He had his helmet off now, and I could see his head and his face. He looked just like he did on tv.

"My name's Madison Koehler. I'm an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." I introduced myself.

"Tony Stark. I'm sure you've heard of me. Everyone has." he said. Apparently, the stories of Tony Stark's arrogance weren't exaggerated. But, Stark wasn't my real concern at the moment. I found it hard to believe Loki would give up so easily just because Iron Man showed up and shot him once. He had to be more ambitious than that. And, from what I understood from his file, Loki was supposed to be some kind of silver-tongued charmer. So, why wasn't he trying to charm his way out of this?

"I don't like it." Cap said.

"What, Rock Of Ages giving up so easily?" Stark said, "Still, you're pretty spry, for an older fellow." Tony said to Cap, "What's your thing, Pilates?"

"What?" Cap said.

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a few things while you were doing time as a capsickle." Tony commented. Tony Stark didn't seem to have any respect for Captain America. Then again, from what I understood, Tony Stark didn't have respect for anyone. Cap ignored Tony's comment, and continued talking about the situation.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." he said.

"There's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Tony said. I could see how Stark's attitude could get on somebody's nerves. He was already starting to get on mine. All of a sudden, the sky became dark, and, within a few minutes, we were surrounded by storm clouds. The wind was so strong, the jet was shaking.

"What the...?" I said. How could a storm just develop that quickly? It just didn't seem possible. I had always been afraid of storms as a child. My mother used to tell me that they were created by Thor, the God Of Thunder, and that I shouldn't be afraid. I grew out of that fear mostly, but, I admit, storms do still make me a little nervous.

"A storm?" Natasha said.

"It just came out of nowhere." I said. Just then, the jet jerked as we felt something land on the roof. Tony flipped his helmet back on and opened the cargo ramp. As soon as he did, someone landed right inside the jet. He was huge, so tall with muscles everywhere. His face was flawless, and he had beautiful blue eyes. His long blonde hair was blowing in the wind, and he had some blonde facial hair. He was wearing armor of some kind, and he was carrying a big, metal hammer. All I could do was watch as he came into the jet, grabbed Loki, started swinging the hammer in a circle, and took off out of the jet with Loki in hand. I couldn't believe it. The storm? The hammer? The armor? Could it have been...?

"And, now there's that guy." Tony said.

"Do you think he's a friendly?" Cap asked.

"I think that's... Thor, the God Of Thunder." I said.

"It doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Tony said. He turned around and started to go for the cargo ramp to exit the jet.

"Stark. We need a plan of attack." Cap said. Stark turned around to look at him.

"I have a plan. Attack." was all Stark said before taking off out of the jet. I had to admit, even for Stark, that comment was pretty good. Cap started putting on a parachute. I figured he was probably preparing to jump out after them. I expected nothing less from Captain America.

"Cap, I'd sit this one out if I were you. These guys come from legend. They're practically gods." Natasha told him.

"There's only one god, ma'am. And, I pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Cap said. Then, he jumped right out of the jet. I started to unbuckle my seatbelt. There was no way I was going to sit this out. I was going out there. But, Natasha grabbed my arm.

"Maddie, don't." she said.

"But..." I said.

"Let them handle this. I need you to stay here with me." Natasha said. I didn't want to miss out on what was going to happen out there, but, Natasha was right. I couldn't just leave her to fly the jet by herself. I sighed.

"Alright." I said, "You're right, Nat." We kept the jet a close enough distance from them to see what was going on, but far enough that we didn't get caught up in the fight. Even under the circumstances, the fight between them was an incredible sight. Cap finally got down to them, and calmed everything down. Natasha and I landed the jet and picked them up. I was curious, so, I decided that, instead of sitting in my copilot seat next to Natasha, I would sit in the back of the jet, in the chair across from the chair Thor was sitting in. He watched me as I sat down, and I gave him a small smile. Nobody else was talking to him, so I felt somebody should at least be a little friendly. I'm not the friendliest person, but I felt bad seeing him sitting there being disregarded by the others.

"Hi. I'm Madison Koehler. I work for S.H.I.E.L.D." I said, reaching my hand out to shake hands with him.

"Greetings, Lady Madison. I am Thor Odinson. It is a pleasure to meet you." he said. He took my hand and kissed it.

"Woah." Stark commented. I was shocked to say the least. I pulled my hand back, still trying to register in my mind what just happened. I was pretty sure my heart was beating faster than the engine of the jet, and I stared at him for a moment. He looked at me, and after a quick moment, a look of realization came across his face.

"My apologies, Lady Madison. I forget that I am not in Asgard. Our customs are not the same. Please, forgive me if I have offended you in any way." he said. The look on his face was the kind of look a child gets just after being scolded, and I felt bad that he thought I was offended. He was just trying to be polite, and here I was getting all jumpy for no reason. I smiled at him.

"No, it's fine. It takes a lot more than that to offend me." I said.

"Sometimes." I heard Natasha comment from the front of the plane. Thor didn't seem to hear her comment, but, he smiled at me, apparently glad to know I wasn't offended. He even sighed a little in relief.

"I am relieved to hear it. You are too kind, Lady Madison." he said, flashing me a gorgeous smile. I could feel my heartbeat speeding up again.

"Oh, no problem at all." I told him, acting as casual as I could. He smiled at me again before looking around the room.

"This is a strange manner of travel. I had no idea humans had such things." he said. I smiled. The way everything here was so new to him was kind of cute.

"Oh, this? It's called a plane. We have lots of these, lots of different kinds. Oh, but, I'm sure you don't care about that boring stuff." I said. He was watching me carefully as I spoke.

"That is not so. I am enjoying listening to you speak." he said. I was surprised.

"Oh." I said, "Still, you're a God and everything. I don't want to bore you with stories about our aircrafts." I said. He laughed a little.

"What?" I asked.

"You are rather amusing, Lady Madison." he said. He was smiling right at me. I wanted to ask him if he meant amusing in a good way or a bad way, but, all I could manage to say was, "Oh, um, thanks."

"You are most welcome." he said. I couldn't understand what my problem was. I was never like this. I was usually so confident, but, for some reason, this guy got to me. I'd never felt like this before, and it scared me and made me happy all at the same time.

"Alright, guys. We're landing soon." Natasha told us. Soon, we landed on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier.


	3. Chapter 3

-Part 3-

A group of agents took Loki to the detention area of the helicarrier and put him in a special cell. If Loki tried to escape, a trap door would open, and the cell would fall into millions of shards of metal, which would tear him up.

We sat in the main area of the helicarrier, around a table, watching on a monitor as Nick Fury talked to Loki, and told him how the cell worked.

"An impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." Loki said, smiling a huge, smug smile.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Fury said.

"Ah, yes." Loki said, that arrogant smile plastered on his face, "The beast, makes play he's still a man." I looked over at Bruce, who was watching with a solemn look on his face. For some reason, that just struck a nerve with me. I remembered what Bruce had asked back when he first came onto the helicarrier. He was sorry for the things he'd done, hated them, and maybe even hated himself a little. He was a good man, and none it was his fault. I stood up, slamming my hands down on the table.

"Why that...!" I said, "He's got no right to say that! And, with that stupid smile plastered on his face!" I turned around and started walking away. I was going to go give him a piece of my mind! But, I felt a large, strong hand grab onto my arm. I turned around to see who it was, and literally came face to face with Thor. Our faces were so close our noses were almost touching. My heart was beating so hard it felt like it was going to jump right out of my chest. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Stark off to the side, grinning, and Cap elbow him, giving him an annoyed look. Thor looked a little shaken, too, which told me that he hadn't meant to pull me that close.

"Th Thor..." I said nervously. He stared at my face, and, I wanted to look away to hide how nervous I was, but I couldn't take my eyes off of his face. We each took a step back to put a more comfortable distance between us.

"My... apologies, Lady Madison. I had only meant to stop you from going in there with Loki." Thor said.

"It's fine." I said.

"Do not go to speak with him." Thor said, his hands still on my shoulders, "He means to rile you up. He means to rile all of us up."

"Thanks, Thor." I said. He was right. He would know Loki better than anybody else there. I knew I needed to be more careful around Loki because he can use just about anything against you.

"You are most welcome." he said, giving me that smile again. I smiled back at him, and we both sat back down. We continued watching Fury and Loki on the monitor.

"You must be desperate to call on such pitiful creatures." Loki said.

"You take my people, threaten my world with war, take a power you can't hope to control, and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did." Fury said. Right then, I was cheering internally. Fury always had a way of coming back with an answer. That was one of the things I respected so much about him.

"Ooh, it burns you, doesn't it? All that power in your grasp, and for what, a warm light for all of man kind to share? And, then, to be reminded what true power is." Loki said.

"Well, let me know if "True Power" needs a magazine or something." Fury said. I wanted to laugh out loud. Fury sure told him. Fury left the room, leaving Loki alone in his cell, and, a few minutes later, coming to the table with the rest of us.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce said.

"Thor, what's Loki's play?" Cap asked.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They are not of Asgard or any other world." Thor said.

"We shouldn't focus so much on Loki. His mind is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him." Bruce said.

"Have care how you speak of him. He may be beyond reason, but he is still of Asgard, and he is my brother." Thor said.

"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha said.

"He's adopted." Thor said.

"I think he means to rile us up." Cap said.

"I think so, too. From what I read in the file, that's Loki's MO. His cunning is his weapon." I said.

"More importantly, I want to know how he turned two of the sharpest men I kbow into his own personal flying monkeys." Fury said. Thor looked so completely confused.

"Monkeys? I do not understand." he said.

"I do." Cap said with a huge smile on his face, looking extremely happy with himself, "I got that reference." Stark sighed and rolled his eyes.

A few minutes later, everybody went their seperate ways on the helicarrier. Stark, Bruce, and Cap went off to the lab, and Natasha went off I didn't even know where. Fury, myself, and Thor stayed in the main area of the helicarrier. I was looking out the window of the helicarrier when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone walk up next to me. I looked over, and, there was Thor.

"Thor. Hi." I said, smiling a little at him. I wasn't sure exactly why he decided to come over to me, but I couldn't honestly say I wasn't glad he did.

"Lady Madison, you look as if something is troubling you." he said, "Is there any way I can be of help?"

"I'm just thinking, that's all." I told him.

"Are you certain you're alright?" he asked. I was surprised. He really did seem worried about me.

"I was just thinking about why I joined S.H.I.E.L.D." I said.

"If I may ask, why is that?" Thor asked.

"My father was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. He was good friends with Nick Fury. I idolized my father, thought he and Nick Fury were just so cool, secret agents, saving the world. I wanted to be just like them." I said. I smiled, remembering all of the times I had with my father. I saddened, a little, remembering the night my parents died.

"My parents died in a car accident when I was eighteen." I said.

"I am sorry to hear of that." he said, putting a hand on my shoulder, "But, be glad that you have such fond memories of them."

"Thanks, Thor." I told him said. Just his hand on my shoulder felt like such a comfort to me, and I couldn't help but smile at him. He smiled back at me, looking straight into my eyes.

"You are most welcome. If I can ever be of assistance to you in any way, do not hesitate to tell me so." he said. My god, he was so polite, and so well spoken.

"Thank you." I said, "You know, it's funny, my mother used to tell me stories about Asgard, about you, but I never thought I would ever actually be talking to you."

"About me?" he asked.

"My mother knew a lot of stories about Asgard, about Odin, about you. For most of my life, I always thought they were just stories, until I heard about how you fell from the sky." I said, laughing a little at the irony. He laughed with me, then, his face became serious. He looked at me for a moment, and sighed.

"Thor?" I said, looking straight at him. I couldn't understand why all of a sudden, his mood changed so quickly. Obviously, there was something on his mind. I was curious as to what it was.

"When I first came here, Loki's rage followed me, and your people payed the price. Now, again." he said. He felt guilty for what Loki did and was doing? Is that what he was saying? I felt an ache in my chest as I thought of him blaming himself for the things Loki was doing, things that were in no way his fault.

"Thor. That wasn't your fault. This isn't your fault. You're not responsible for Loki's actions. He's the one doing this." I told him.

"Loki's mind is far afield. It is not only power he seeks, it is vengeance upon me." Thor said, "There's no pain worth prices when it comes to him."

"Some guys think that. Until the pain starts."

I heard a voice from just above us. Both Thor and I looked in the direction of the voice, and saw Nick Fury coming down the steps of the walkway. Thor looked at him.

"What are you asking me to do?" Thor asked.

"I'm asking, what are you willing to do?" Fury said.

"Loki is a Prisoner." Thor said.

"Then, why does it feel like he's the only one on this boat that wants to be here?" Nick said. Just then, we heard a commotion coming from the lab. Fury, myself, and Thor ran down the hall to see what was going on. When we got there, Natasha was there with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Natasha was telling Bruce that he needed to get himself out of this environment because Loki's plan was to upset him, unleashing the Hulk. Tony had somehow hacked into the database, and was running a search through all of the information. I was beginning to think that Stark had a knack for making matters worse.

"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed." Bruce said. He sounded somewhat annoyed. Fury, Natasha, and myself each put a hand on our guns.

"Dr. Banner, this is just what Loki wants. You need to step away." Natasha said. She seemed sure about this. Wherever she had been, she must have found something out somehow. I wasn't surprised. Natasha was one of the best spies I had ever known.

"Where? You rented my room." Bruce said.

"That was just in case..." Natasha started to say.

"In case you needed to kill me, but, you can't. I know. I've tried." Bruce said, "I got low. I saw no end, so I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spit it out. So, I focused on helping people, and, you know what? I was good. But, you had to drag me back here and put everyone on this ship in danger."

"What is Phase Two, anyway?" Stark asked in his ever-famous smart ass tone. Stark didn't seem to care that he was just irritating everyone even more. I wondered whether he actually intended to make matters worse, or whether the way he was just naturally did so. Whatever his reasoning, I wanted to punch Stark right in the face. Why had Fury even called on him to help? Just then, Cap walked into the room and slammed a piece of weaponry down onto the table.

"Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Tesseract to make weapons. Sorry, Tony. You're computer was moving a little slow for me." Cap said. Now, Cap, too? The situation was getting worse by the minute. Even Cap was feeding into Stark's bullshit. I had thought he would be above that. Bruce was getting more irritated by the minute, which was really not good. Wasn't there anything we could do to calm things down?

"We're not a team. We're a time bomb. We're just a chemical mixture that creates chaos." Bruce said. As much as that was true, I thought that we had the potential to be so much more if they could just learn to get along.

"Everybody, stop. This is just what Loki wants. Fury can explain everything. Just calm down." I said.

"What I want to know is why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to make weapons." Bruce asked.

"Because of him." Fury said, pointing to Thor. The look on Thor's face broke my heart. I could feel a stabbing pain in my chest. How could Fury blame Thor? All he wants to do is help us.

"Me?" Thor asked.

"A few years ago, we got a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town." Fury said.

"Now, wait a minute, Fury. That's not fair!" I protested.

"My people want nothing but peace with your people." Thor said.

"But, you're not the only people out there, are you?" Fury said, "We realized that we are all hopelessly and hilariously outgunned."

"'Cause a nuclear deterrant always calms things down." Tony said.

"Remind me how you made your living again." Fury said. Yes! Thank you, Fury! If Stark was going to be a jerk, I was glad Fury was going to give it right back to him.

"I'm sure if Stark was still making weapons, he'd be knee deep in..." Cap started to say.

"I'm sorry. When did this become about me?" Stark asked.

"I'm sorry. Isn't it always?" Cap said. I couldn't help but grin. Even Cap was giving it right back to him. Although, none of it was helping the situation.

"You people are petty. And tiny." Thor said.

"How can you all be so naive?!" Natasha said. Soon enough, an argument broke out. The arguing continued until we noticed that Bruce was holding onto the spear we had taken from Loki.

"Dr. Banner, step away from the spear." Cap said. Bruce seemed to realize what he was doing, almost like he was snapping out of some kind of trance, and put the spear down.

"Sorry, guys, you don't get to see my party trick today." he said, and he began to walk out of the room. Just then, there was an explosion, and everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4: The Attack

-Part 4: The Attack-

The first thing I remember when I woke up was Thor staring down at me.

"Thor. What...?" I said, sitting up slowly. I heard Thor sigh quietly.

"Lady Madison." he said, "I am... relieved to see that you are alright." He gently touched my shoulder.

"Thank you. But, what's...?" I started to ask, but then, I remembered everyone arguing and the explosion.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked him.

"I believe I saw Iron Man and Captain Rogers go off in that direction." he said, pointing, "As for the others, I know not." I looked around.

"Man, that explosion really trashed the place." I said. Thor looked at me, his head cocked to one side, a puzzled look on his face. At first, I couldn't figure out why he was looking at me like that. Then, it dawned on me that he didn't understand the slang I'd used. Obviously he would never have heard that before. I felt like such an idiot for not realizing it, and I felt a little bad for confusing him.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to confuse you. It's a saying we humans use sometimes. Trashed the place. It means it destroyed the place." I explained to him. A look of realization came across his face.

"Ah. I understand. It did just that." he said.

"Sorry, Thor. I didn't mean to confuse you. I need to learn to think before I talk." I apologized.

"Nay. There is no need to apologize." Thor said.

"Thanks." I said. I sighed, smiling. Why did he have to be so damn polite all the time?

"Are you able to stand?" he asked, standing and reaching his hand out to me.

"Yeah. I think I'm good." I told him, though I took his hand and let him help me up, "And, Thor, you don't have to call me Lady Madison. You can drop the 'Lady'." As respectful as it was, it sounded so formal. I wanted him to think of us as friends now. I was afraid I was starting to like him much more than I should.

"Just Madison, then?" he asked.

"Just Madison is great." I said, smiling.

"As you wish, Madison." he said, smiling at me. Yeah, I was definitely liking him more than I should. Just then, we heard a loud roar echo throughout the helicarrier.

"Is that? No. It can't be..." I said. There was only one thing on this helicarrier that could make a sound like that.

"Is that... the Hulk?" I said.

"It would seem so." Thor said.

"This is exactly what Loki wanted." I said. I could hear loud crashing sounds coming from the next room.

"That sounds bad." I said. Thor broke through the wall, tackling Hulk, who, from the looks of it, was just about to attack Natasha. Natasha was on the ground, sitting against a wall. I went over to her while Thor fought Hulk.

"Natasha." I said.

"Maddie." Natasha said.

"Natasha, your leg."

"I'm fine."

"You're not. You're hurt." I insisted. I knew Natasha well enough to know that, even if she was hurt, she would still tell me she was alright.

"It's fine." she said.

"We are not your enemies, Banner. Try to think." Thor said to Hulk, who was trying to smash his hand down on him. He was just barely stopping it with his bare hands. Hulk punched him, sending him crashing through another wall into another room.

"Thor!" I yelled, running after Thor. I didn't even think about what I was doing. All I could think about was whether Thor was okay. I could hear Natasha yelling my name, but I didn't stop. Hulk and Thor kept fighting each other until a fighter jet showed up and began firing a barrage of bullets at Hulk. Just as I was about to get to cover, I was pushed to the ground, and I could feel a warm body on top of me, almost as if shielding me. I was pretty sure it was Thor. Was he protecting me from stray bullets? I could hear Hulk roar, and a plane crashing, then, the room was quiet. I felt Thor move himself off of me, and I sat up, looking at him. He stared at me for a moment before he spoke.

"Madison, are you unharmed?" he asked. I nodded.

"Thank you." I said, "You protected me."

"Of course. And, you are most welcome." Thor said, smiling. We stood up, and went down the hall to the detention area to make sure Loki hadn't escaped. We got there just in time to see the door to the cell opening.

"No!" Thor yelled, tackling Loki, or, at least, what we thought was Loki. The figure disappeared, revealing itself to have been just one of Loki's illusions. The door to the cell closed, locking Thor inside.

"Will you ever not fall for that?" said the real Loki, who was standing off to the side of the room. I threw a knife that grazed the top of Loki's head. I had missed on purpose, a warning throw.

"Stop." I said. Loki turned to look at me and smiled. He seemed quite amused at a human girl taking him on.

"Well, well. What have we here?" he said, coming over to me. Thor pounded on the glass.

"Leave her out of this, brother!" he yelled. Loki looked at Thor, then at me again.

"I remember you. My brother seems quite fond of you." Loki said to me, then, turning to look at Thor, "What is is about these mortal women you love so much?" Loki walked up to me, pinning me against the wall. I knew I couldn't take on Loki, so I had a plan to free Thor. I just had to bide my time, wait for the right moment.

"Maybe, I should just find out." he said, grinning devilishly. Yeah, like hell. Thor pounded on the glass of the cell again.

"Loki!" he yelled angrily. Loki grabbed me by the neck, choking me, "As much as I would love to see my dear brother squirm if I did such a thing to you, alas, you are not worth my time. I would much rather just kill you here while my brother is forced to watch as I do. Then, I'll kill him. Say goodbye, wench." He tightened his grip around my neck, and I grabbed a knife from one of the holsters on my belt and stabbed Loki hard in the side.

"The name is Madison. Don't forget it, you son of a bitch." I said. My hand had been on the knife all along. I was just waiting for the right opportunity to use it. I figured Loki would underestimate me, so I waited, letting him think he had the upper hand, taking him off guard, stabbing him when he didn't expect it.

"Ah!" he said, letting go of me. I roundhouse kicked him, knocking him off his feet.

"Damn you!" Loki said. Right about then, I imagine his pride was hurting. A human girl got the better of him. I ran over to the control panel for the cell. I knew Loki wasn't out for good, or very long at all, but, I hoped I'd at least bought myself enough time to free Thor.

"Alright. Let's get you out of there." I said. But, before I could do anything, I felt something, or someone hit me in the back of the head, and everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5: The Battle For The City

-Part 5: The Battle For The City-

The first thing I remembered when I woke up was Nick Fury kneeling down next to me. I sat up, looking around.

"Nick. What...?" I started to say.

"Easy, Madison." Fury said, stopping me before I could finish my sentence, "You took a couple blows to the head." I remembered what happened, the attack on the helicarrier, and Loki's escape. Suddenly, all I could think of was one thing.

"Thor!" I said, "Where's Thor?!"

"Madison, calm down." Nick said.

"Fury, where's Thor?" I asked. I wasn't going to let up until he gave me an answer. I looked over where the cell had been, the cell Thor had been in. It was gone. What happened to it, to Thor?

"He was..." I said.

"From what we understand, Loki dropped the cell with Thor in it. It's unknown whether or not he's alive." Nick said. What? No, that couldn't be. Thor couldn't be dead. That wouldn't be enough to kill him... would it? Could he really be... dead? I became literally sick to my stomach at the thought. What if... Thor was dead?

"Agent Coulson is dead." Fury continued.

"What? Phil? How?" I asked in shock. Phil Coulson was dead? Thor may be dead? I couldn't believe all of it. Were they the only two? Just how many more casualties had we had, how many more good men had we lost while I was out cold?

"From the looks of it, he was trying to help Thor." Fury said, "And, the whereabouts of Bruce Banner are Still unknown."

"What about Cap and Stark?" I asked, "And Natasha?" I prayed that at least the three of them were okay.

"The three of them are fine. And, so is Agent Hill. Cap and Stark are the reason the helicarrier is still in the air. They're in the Command Center right now." Fury answered. So, Cap and Stark actually did work together? Maybe they could learn to cooperate and be the team we hoped they could be. But, was it already too late? It would still be only four people against Loki and a whole army if Chitauri.

"So, that leaves four of us against Loki and his army." I said, standing up, "The odds aren't really in our favor."

"Five. We got Barton back." Fury said.

"What?" I said, "How?" The surprises just kept coming, didn't they?

"Agent Romanoff knocked him out of it." Fury told me.

"So, what now?" I asked.

"Agent Romanoff is with Agent Barton right now. We need to have a talk with Cap and Stark." Fury said. Fury and I went to the main area of the helicarrier, where Cap and Tony were sitting at the table. They looked upset and disheveled, and Tony was in his normal clothes, not his Iron Man suit. They both turned to look at us when we walked into the room.

"Agent Koehler." Cap said, "Glad you're alright."

"Thanks, Cap." I said, leaning on the table. I appreciated Cap saying that, but my mind was still elsewhere. I was still thinking about Thor. But, Stark's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Bravo, Fury. At least one of your flunkies came out of this alive." he said, a biting tone in his voice.

"Excuse me." Maria Hill said sharply.

"What?" I said, "Don't blame us for this, Stark. You're the one that played right into Loki's hands, and got other people to do the same."

"People." Fury said sharply, "I'm going to tell you all the truth. What you do with it is up to you." He had all of our attention now.

"Yes, S.H.I.E.L.D. was using the Tesseract to make weapons." Fury explained, "But, I never put all my cards on that number. I was betting on something else. There was an idea. Stark knows this. The idea was to bring together extraordinary people. Together, they could do things that ordinary people couldn't."

"It was called The Avengers Initiative." I told them. Like I said before, I already knew about the Avengers Initiative, and I was all for the idea. Fury said, threw some bloody Captain America trading cards on the table, "Phil Coulson died believing in that idea, in heroes." Tony got up and stormed out of the room.

"Well, it's an old fashioned notion." Fury said. Cap got up and followed after Stark, and I followed both of them. They eventually came to the conclusion, that, even though Tony and Cap weren't happy with Fury, everyone agreed the Tesseract needed to be recovered, for everyone's sake. Tony soon came to the realization that Loki would go to Stark Tower to put his plan into action. Tony's current suit was pretty damaged from fixing the turbine on the helicarrier. We came up with a plan. Tony would go ahead to Stark Tower to distract Loki, all the while, secretly getting a new suit. The rest of us that were left would follow. So, while Tony left for Stark Tower, Cap and I went to talk to Natasha. When we entered the room, Natasha was sitting on the table alone. Didn't Fury say that Clint was supposed to be there? So, where was he?

"Natasha." I said, "We're going after Loki."

"Does anyone know how to fly one of those jets?" Cap asked.

"I do."

We looked in the direction of the voice and saw Clint walking out of the adjoining bathroom.

"Clint." I said. I knew Fury had said that we'd got Clint back, but I was surprised to actually see it for myself. He looked at me and smiled.

"Madison." he said, "Good to see you, kid."

"Good to see you." I said, "And, good to see that you're you." Clint chuckled slightly at my comment.

"Have you got a suit?" Cap asked him.

"Yeah." Clint answered.

"Then, suit up." Cap told him. The three of us went to the jet, where there were a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents standing.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be in here." one of them said, to which Cap responded with a line I still love to this day.

"Son, just don't." he said. The agents obviously decided against trying to stop us and let us take the jet. By the time we got there, Stark was already resuited and fighting the alien creatures coming through the already open portal in the sky.

"We're here." Natasha said.

"What did you, stop for drive through?" Stark remarked. I sighed. Typical Stark. We could see Loki standing at the top of Stark Tower. He saw us, and shot the jet out of the sky. Clint still managed to keep us from crashing completely as we crashed to the ground. We got out of the jet, taking a look around. The city was already in complete chaos. People were running in panic, things were being destroyed, explosions all around us. There were Chitauri everywhere. It was hard to believe it got that bad in such a short time. We could see Loki standing at the top of Stark Tower like he was the king of the world. Arrogant bastard. All of a sudden, I saw someone land next to Loki on top of Stark Tower. I looked closer, and I could hardly believe my eyes! It was Thor. He was alive! Oh, thank god. I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my chest. Even with the chaos all around, I was so happy. I finally just broke down and laughed out of relief. Cap, Natasha, and Clint noticed my reaction, and I saw Natasha grin. She knew how I felt about Thor? Hell, of course she knew. Anybody could figure it out, and Natasha, being such a close friend to me, of course, she figured it out. Clint stood there, though, looking kind of confused about the whole situation. He hadn't been there since I met Thor, so there was no way he could have known. I saw Natasha whisper something to him, and a look of realization came across his face. Of course, I knew Nat had told him. Oh and Thor fought for a few minutes on top of Stark Tower until Loki managed to get away from him, jumping onto one of the Chitauri chariots. Man, this guy was a real pain in the ass. Thor flew down from Stark Tower, joining the rest of us. We caught each other's eye, and we stared at each other for a moment before walking over to each other, as if each of us couldn't believe the other was there.

"Thor!" I said excitedly. I probably had a stupid looking smile plastered on my face, but, at the moment, I didn't care. I was just so glad to see him alive.

"Madison." Thor said, putting his hands on my arms, "I am relieved to see that you unharmed. If Loki had done anything to you..."

"Thor." I said, "I was so afraid you..." I was cut off mid sentence as I felt something warm on my lips. He was kissing me! I couldn't believe it. At first, I was in such shock I couldn't do anything. My head was spinning, my heart was beating a mile a minute, and my body was so hot it felt like I was on fire. But, then, I kissed him back. I was so glad that he felt the same for me as I did for him. I figured Natasha was probably grinning right about then, and Cap was probably just watching in surprise.

"Wow." I heard Clint say, "I missed a lot while I was gone." I figured he probably had his usual smart ass grin on his face right about then. When we broke the kiss, Stark's voice could be heard over the radio.

"Way to go, there, Point Break. But, uh, in case you didn't notice, the city's kind of under attack here. So, yeah, you might want to save that for later." Stark said. Both Thor and I just smiled.

"Alright, so, what now?" I asked.

"Let me know when Banner shows up." Tony said.

"Banner?" Cap said.

"Banner? We don't even know where he..." I started to say, but Stark interrupted me.

"Just keep me posted." Stark said. Cap started to lay out a plan. I knew we could count on Cap.

"Alright. Listen, we've got Stark up top..." he started to say, but was interrupted by the sound of a motor scooter. We all looked in the direction of the sound and saw Bruce Banner riding up on a motor scooter.

"What the...?" I said as we walked over to him. What was he even doing there? He had been reluctant to turn into The Hulk, so exactly what did he figure he could do there? He got off of the scooter and walked over to us.

"Well, this all seems... horrible." Bruce said.

"I've seen worse." Natasha said.

"Sorry." Bruce apologized.

"No, it's alright. We could use a little worse." Nat said.

"We've got him." Cap said.

"Banner? Well, then, tell him to suit up." Stark said, "I'm bringing the party to you." Just then, we saw Stark flying through the air being followed by a giant alien creature. He was leading it towards us.

"Holy shit." I said.

"I don't see how that's a party." Natasha said. Bruce turned around and started walking towards Tony and the creature.

"Dr. Banner. Now might be a good time for you to get angry." Cap said. Bruce looked back at us as he was walking.

"That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry." Bruce said, before turning back around to face the creature. He suddenly transformed into the Hulk, and stopped the creature. But, the creature was so long, the end of it was flipping over and falling straight towards us.

"I got this." Tony said, shooting the end of the creature so that it fell in the opposite direction instead of on us Maybe Tony Stark wasn't so bad deep down. But, pieces of the creature's armor fell down onto where we were standing. Cap shielded himself and Natasha with his shield and Clint ducked behind a taxi. I was about to take cover when I felt a pair of strong arms grab me, pulling me close. It was Thor. He got behind something, holding me close to keep me safe. This was the second time he shielded me with his body like this. Even in the current situation, I felt so safe in his arms. He was so strong, but also so gentle. Stark then landed on the ground with rest of us. Standing there with everyone, I felt a sense of pride. Even though it was a rough start, we'd finally done it. We were a team. We were the Avengers.

"Call it, captain." Stark said. Cap began duling out orders. Barton, I want you on the rooftops. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you've got the perimeter. If anything goes by, turn it back or turn it to ash." he said.

"Better clench up, Legolas." Tony said, grabbing Clint by the collar and flying into the air with him.

"We need to bottleneck that portal. Thor, if you've got the lightning, light 'em up." Cap said. Thor nodded to Cap, then turned to look at me.

"Stay safe." he said.

"I'll be fine." I said, smiling. He started spinning Mjolnir and took off into the air.

"Natasha, Madison, I want you two on the ground with me." Cap said. Natasha nodded.

"Yes, sir." I said. For a while, we fought the Chitauri.

"Captain, none of this is going to mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal." Natasha finally said.

"She's right. They'll just keep coming." I said.

"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it." Cap said.

"Maybe it's not about guns." Natasha said, looking up, "I have to get up there."

"Do you need a ride?" Cap asked.

"I've got a ride." Natasha said, "I could use a boost, though."

"Are you sure about this?" Cap asked.

"Yeah." Natasha said, looking at Cap, "It's gonna be fun." She ran towards Cap, and jumped off of his shield, him helping to propel her further through the air. She grabbed onto a chitauri chariot, threw the chitauri off of it, and commandeered it.

"That does look kind of fun." I said as we watched Natasha on the chitauri chariot. Thor eventually came back down to the ground to fight alongside us, and Natasha finally made it to the top of Stark Tower. Cap got knocked to the ground by one of the Chitauri, and Thor defeated the chitauri, and offered his hand to Cap. Cap took his hand and let Thor help him to his feet. I smiled as I watched them. Not only were we a team, but we were becoming something even more, friends. And, for the first time since my parents died, I felt like I had a family again.

"Ready for another bout?" Thor asked him.

"What, are you getting tired?" Cap asked, smiling. We all continued to fight until, finally, Natasha talked to us over the radio.

"I can close it." she said.

"Do it." Cap said.

"Wait. We've got a nuke comin' in." Stark said over the radio, "And, I know just where to put it."

"A what?!" I said. I was shocked. They were going to nuke all of New York, just like that? Innocents, women, children. There was no way Fury would ever authorize something like that, and he especially wouldn't order it.

"They're going to nuke the entire island of Manhattan?" Cap said.

"This isn't Fury's doing. He wouldn't do that." I said.

"Are you sure?" Cap said.

"If Madison trusts that he would not, then I do as well. I trust her judgement." Thor said.

"It wasn't Fury. He's the one who told me about the nuke." Stark said over the radio. We all watched as Tony Stark grabbed the missile and flew with it up towards the portal. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Tony Stark was going to risk his life to save the city? Did something Cap said to him hit too close to home and make him realize how selfish he had been? As much as I had my disagreements with Tony Stark, the last thing I wanted was for him to die. After everything we've all been through together, we were going to lose a member of our team, someone we finally considered a friend?

"Stark, that's a one way trip." Cap said.

"I know." Stark said. Whatever the reason, Tony Stark was doing it, for once in his life, he was doing something selfless. We saw Stark go into the portal. We watched for what seemed like hours, though I knew it actually only had to have been a few minutes, waiting, hoping for Stark to come back out. After a few minutes of waiting, Cap finally made the call that had to be made.

"Close it." he said. I admired him for being able to make that call. I definitely wouldn't have wanted to be the one to make that call. But, then, Captain America always did what needed to be done, no matter what. That was how he ended up frozen in the ice in the first place. It was literally just as the portal was closing that we saw it, an unbelievable sight. Literally, just before the portal closed, Tony Stark came falling back through.

"Son of a gun." Cap said.

"No way." I said. We watched as Stark continued falling downward, though he was falling at a dangerous speed from a dangerous height.

"He's not slowing down." Thor said, spinning Mjolnir, preparing to fly up and get him. But, just then, Hulk jumped from a building and caught him, bringing him safely down and laying him on the ground. Thor turned him over so that he was laying on his back, and Hulk tore the front of his helmet off. He lay there motionless with his eyes closed, and we watched, just waiting for him to wake up. Surely, he couldn't die after all this, could he? Finally, Hulk let out a loud roar, and Tony's eyes flew open.

"Oh, what the hell?" he said, "What happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me." Cap grinned.

"We won." he (Cap) said.

"Alright. Yay! Good job, everybody. Let's just take a day. Let's all just not come in tomorrow. Ever tried shawarma? I don't know what it is, but I want to try it." Tony said. I couldn't believe it. I swore that Tony Stark had to be the luckiest bastard alive. He was the only one I knew that could go into a portal, and, as it was closing, escape just by a hair. I smiled and shook my head. As irritating as Stark was, I think I did like him deep down. I would have been sad to see him die, though I'd never admit that to him.

"We're not done yet." Thor said. We knew he was referring to the fact that we still had to deal with Loki.

"Okay. Then, shawarma after." Tony said. We went to the top of Stark Tower, where Loki was just barely getting up after Hulk had smashed him into the floor. He looked up to see the whole group of us standing imposingly in front of him.

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now." he said. From this comment, I figured Tony had apparently offered him a drink when he was distracting him before.

We took Loki and the Tesseract to Central Park, where we prepared to send him and the artifact off to Asgard.

"Madison," Thor said, placing his large hands on my shoulders, "I will return. I swear it." Madison nodded.

"I trust you." I said. I would be lying if I said I wasn't sad to see him go, but I knew he had to, and I knew this day would come. I knew that he wouldn't lie to me, and that he fully intended to come back. I just wasn't sure when that would be. So, I forced herself to be strong, and I managed a smile. This was how I wanted Thor to remember me, smiling. He smiled at me, leaned in, and kissed me, a hungry, passionate kiss, like he was trying to get his fill until he would see me again. He wasn't sure when that would be.

"Well, I certainly missed something along the way, didn't I?" Eric Selvig said, finally smiling for the first time since he had been freed from Loki's control. I could hear the surprise in his voice. He was the only one who hadn't known about Thor and me yet. When we finally broke the kiss, Dr. Selvig shook hands with Thor, and handed him the Tesseract.

"Thank you, my friend." Thor said, smiling at him. He then turned to look at me.

"Madison, until we meet again." he said. I smiled and waved.

"See you, Thor." I said quietly. Then, Thor looked around at everyone else.

"Until we meet again, my friends." he said.

"Right. And, when you come back, shwarma." Tony said. Thor smiled, and, after a moment, he, Loki, and the Tesseract were gone. I looked to the ground, trying to hide the sadness on my face. Maybe, if I didn't make eye contact with anybody, no one would say anything or ask if I was alright. Every time Im upset and somebody asks me if I'm alright, I always feel ten times worse. I didn't want to start crying there, in front of everybody. But, I looked up when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Dr. Selvig.

"He'll come back." he said, smiling. I was able to manage a small smile. He was being so nice, and we didn't even know each other all that well.

"Thanks, Dr. Selvig." I said. Natasha reached over and put her hand on my other shoulder.

"Come on, Maddie. You can come hang out with me and Clint for a while." she said. I knew she was just trying to make me feel better. I also knew that there was no way she was going to leave me alone to just mope around by myself. I smiled and sighed.

"Alright, Nat. You win." I said.

"Well, see you all around." Stark said. He and Bruce got into his(Stark's) sportscar, and drove off. Natasha, Clint, and me got into Natasha's car and drove off, and Steve got onto his motorcycle and rode off.


	6. Chapter 6: Secrets

-Part 6: Secrets-

The next day, I was walking down the hallway on the helicarrier when I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

"Madison."

I turned around to see Nick Fury coming towards me from down the hall.

"Can I talk to you?" he said as he walked up to me. My first thought was 'What did I do this time?'. Sometimes, I have a tendency to bend the rules a little, which sometimes gets me in trouble. And, usually, when Fury asks to talk to someone privately, well, most of the time, it's not just for a friendly chat. I tried to think of what I could possibly have done. I couldn't have done anything wrong this time. I was part of a team that just saved the world the day before? Could this have been about me and Thor?

"Come into my office." he said. I followed him into his office. He sat down at his desk, and I sat down across from him, in a chair on the other side of the desk.

"Was there something you wanted, Director Fury?" I asked. He may be my friend, but he's also my superior, and I know to show proper respect while at work, especially if I was about to get reprimanded for something.

"Drop the formalities, Madison. I want to talk to you as your friend, not your boss." Fury said. I felt my body relax knowing that I wasn't getting in trouble after all. Still, I couldn't imagine why Fury would want to sit me down and have a talk with me, especially if it wasn't about work.

"Madison, with everything that's happened, I've had enough secrets to last me a long time." Fury said. What was he talking about? Was he keeping some kind of secret from me? No. He wouldn't keep a secret from me, would he?

"Madison, this is about your parents. Your mother, specifically." Fury continued.

"My mother? What about her?" I asked. I was confused. What could Fury possibly have to tell me about my mother? Fury sighed.

"Madison, the woman you knew as your mother isn't your real mother." he said.

"What? What are you talking about?" I asked. She wasn't my real mother? What was he talking about? Could that really be true?

"Your real mother died shortly after you were born. The woman you knew as your mother adopted you as her own when she married your father." Nick Fury said.

"What? Why didn't anybody tell me this? All these years you lied to me, my father lied to me? Why?" I said. I was shocked and angry. Why would they keep that from me? Didn't they think I have the right to know?

"Because I promised your father I wouldn't." Fury answered.

"What? Why would he want you to promise something like that?" I asked. I was so confused. Why wouldn't my father have wanted me to know all of this?

"So you could have a normal life. Madison, your real mother wasn't human." Fury answered.

"Wait. Back up. What do you mean my mother wasn't human?" I said. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought Fury had finally lost it. What was he talking about, not human?

"Madison, your mother was from Asgard." Fury told me. Asgard? My birth mother was... Asgardian? That meant I was Asgardian, too. But, it was so hard to wrap my mind around all of this. But, it had to be true. Fury didn't play jokes.

"What? No way. You're telling me I'm Asgardian?" I said.

"You're half Asgardian. Your father, as you know, was human." Fury said, "The world didn't know Asgard existed. He thought, if you knew, it would make your life harder. He just wanted you to be happy. That's why he kept it from you, and made me promise to do the same. But, now, I thought it was time I break that promise. Stark and Cap showed me the harm some secrets can do when kept from the wrong people. I figured this was one of those times. You have a right to know." As much as I hated the fact that everybody kept it from me for so long, I also appreciated Nick Fury finally telling me. It couldn't have been easy, especially since it meant breaking a promise that he made to my father. Even though I didn't like it being kept from me, I guess I understood why my father did it. In his own way, he was trying to protect me. He just wanted me to feel normal, like everyone else. The world wasn't ready to know about things like Asgard yet. Still, it was a lot for me to wrap my head around.

"Did my mo... my step-mom know?" I asked. Fury nodded.

"She did. She wanted your father to tell you the truth, but he refused. He thought it would only make your life harder." he said. I was said nothing for a few minutes, trying to take it all in.

"Thanks for telling me, Fury. I appreciate it." I finally said. I walked down the hall to my room. I sighed, laying down on the bed, laying on my back, staring up at the ceiling. I couldn't believe it. I was half Asgardian. Still, it made sense. As long as I can remember, I had always been physically stronger than other people. Also, everytime I would get injured in some way, it seemed like I healed slightly faster than other people. And, the stories my step-mom told me about Asgard were her way of trying to connect me with the other half of my heritage, my real heritage, without actually telling me the truth.


	7. Chapter 7: Shawarma

-Part 7: Shawarma-

The next day, I was sitting on my bed, strumming on my guitar when I heard heavy footsteps coming down the hallway. I stopped and looked to the doorway, and couldn't believe what I saw. It was Thor! He was back?! I never thought he'd be able to come back so soon.

"Madison." he said, smiling at me. There it was, that smile again.

"Thor!" I said, setting my guitar next to my bed and running over to him. He took my hands in his.

"I am very pleased to see you." he said.

"I can't believe you're back already." I said, smiling. I probably had the stupidest looking grin on my face right about then, but, oh well.

"Yes, well, Tony Stark wanted me to partake in the eating of shawarma with my new friends." he said. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Truly, everything is settled with Loki and the Tesseract, so I am able to visit." Thor told me.

"Is this your quarters?" he asked, looking around as he followed me into my room.

"Yeah. This is it. At least, this is where I stay when I'm on the helicarrier. I have a small apartment not far from Stark Tower, but, I think I spend more time here." I said. I noticed him looking at a picture on the end table by my bed. It was a picture of me when I was younger, with my dad and step-mom.

"Yep. That's me." I said, sitting down on the bed.

"And your parents, I presume." he said, sitting down next to me. That's right. I hadn't told Thor yet about being half Asgardian. I wasn't sure how to answer that one.

"Well... as far as I'm concerned, yeah. But, I just found out she's not my real mother, or, not my birth mother, I guess. Apparently, my real mother died shortly after I was born." I said, staring at the picture for a moment before continuing, "According to Nick Fury, my real mother was Asgardian."

"Your mother was of Asgard?" Thor said, looking at me. He looked so surprised. I couldn't blame him. Hell, it was a shock to my system, too.

"Yeah. I'm half Asgardian, Thor." I said, "Trust me, it was a shock to me, too." Thor just looked at me, saying nothing for a few minutes, then he smiled, and touched my arm.

"Then, you are truly the best of what both realms have to offer." he said. I smiled. Honestly, I thought Thor was exaggerating, but, I'd be lying if I said he wasn't glad he thought so. He's just too sweet.

"I swore that, after Jane Foster, I would never fall in love with a human again, that it would only cause me pain. But, I never dreamed I could meet one such as yourself. You are unlike anyone I have ever known." he said, "Madison, I believe I may be in love with you." I was so happy to hear him say that I wanted to cry.

"Thor, the way I feel about you, I've never felt like this before. I really think I love you, too." I said.

"I am glad to hear it." he said, smiling at me. He leaned in and kissed her. Then, I heard a familiar voice coming from the doorway.

"Geez, what is it with you two? Close the door if you're gonna do that stuff."

We quickly pulled away from each other, and looked in the direction of the voice to see none other than Tony Stark.

"Stark. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"We're going for shawarma, remember? If you can pull yourselves away from each other for that long." Tony said. I couldn't help but laugh. Maybe I was still just glad to see that Stark was alive after the close call he had. Or, maybe, I was just getting used to Stark's antics by now.

"Alright." I said, "Let's go get some shwarma." Thor and I followed Tony out to the main area of the helicarrier, where Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Bruce were waiting for us.

We all walked into Shawarma Palace, the restaurant Stark had seen downtown during the battle. Besides us and the employees who worked there, the place was empty. The building itself was somewhat of a mess from the attack on the city. There were some windows broken out, and some chairs and tables knocked over. There was a woman in the corner, sweeping up glass and some debris.

"I guess shawarma isn't exactly in high demand." I said.

"I guess not. Nobody even knows what it is. Stark doesn't even know what it is." Natasha said. The employees were all of Middle Eastern descent, and they began whispering to each other in their language. All I could make out was the word "Avengers" every now and then because it was the same in both languages. We were quite a mismatched group, so we did stand out. And, if we didn't stand out before, we definitely did now that we saved the world.

"I think they're talking about us." I said.

"I wonder what they're saying." Tony said.

"Probably, 'those assholes think, just because they saved the world, they think they can just walk in while we're cleaning up the place and still get service.' Or something along those lines." Clint said.

"Nah, they're probably saying how great we are 'cause we saved the city." Tony said. One of the employees walked over to us.

"Hello." the woman said with a thick Middle Eastern accent, "Welcome to Shawarma Palace. May I ask, are you the Avengers?"

"Um, yes, ma'am." Steve said.

"I thought so. I knew you right away." the woman said, "Come. I show you to your table." She led us over to a table near the door. We all took a seat around the table. Thor and I sat beside each other. Next to us sat Tony, then Bruce. On the other side of Thor sat Cap. Next to Cap, Natasha and Clint sat beside each other, or rather, practically on top of each other, Clint with his leg up on Natasha's chair. The woman passed a menu to each of us.

"If there is anything you need, let me know." she said before walking away.

"What is any of this stuff?" Natasha said, looking at the menu.

"Just pick something. Try anything. I'm buying." Tony said. I sighed, resting my head on my hand.

"Isn't there anything in here that doesn't have meat in it?" I said.

"I don't know. This looks the closest to actually being edible." Clint said, pointing out something in his menu to Natasha.

"Yeah. Well, do you want to go with a basket of that, and we can share it?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah. Might as well." Clint answered.

"I don't know if I want anything." Cap said, looking over the menu.

"You can have some of whatever I'm having." Tony said. After a few minutes, the woman came back to the table.

"Are you ready to order?" she asked. We placed our order, and the woman thanked us and headed back to the kitchen to tell the cook our order. We relaxed and waited for our food to be brought out. We were all still fairly tired. After all, it was only a day ago that we were fighting a battle to save New York City. We were all somewhat slouching in their seats, and Clint had even obtained a book from God knows where, and was now reading it. We sat in silence for a while, before Tony, of course, was the first to speak up.

"So... you and Agent K., huh, Point Break?" he said to Thor. Agent K. Is Stark's nickname for me since I'm an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and my last name starts with K. That was the first time he'd ever called me by that nickname.

"Hello. Stark. Don't talk about me like I'm not sitting right here." I said, "And, you know damn well the answer to that." Though I may have seemed annoyed, I was smiling. Though I may or may not admit it, as annoyed as I sometimes get with Stark, I would have been pretty sad if he'd died. Thor grinned at my comment, and Bruce let out a small laugh.

"Hey, guys, look at that." Natasha said, pointing to a white board on the far side of the room.

"Shawarma Palace. Voted best shawarma in New York." Clint read out loud what was written on the white board.

"I guess so. It's probably the only shawarma in New York." I said.

"That's exactly what I was thinking." Natasha said. We all laughed and talked until the waitress brought us our food. I looked around at everybody. Tony was the first to take a bite, probably because it was his idea to go there. Bruce was the second one to start eating. He looked hesitant at first, but then, he slowly took the first bite. After that, he started eating at a more steady pace. Thor was the next to start eating. Before long, he was shoving large portions of food into his mouth. Thor was always a big eater, and I wondered if he would eat pretty much anything. I also wondered if it actually was good, or whether he was just enjoying eating something different than the food they have in Asgard for a change. I moved my food, a vegetarian wrap of some kind, around on my plate, hesitant to actually take a bite. I knew I should just try it and get it over with, but I wasn't sure I really wanted to. But, then again, I didn't want the others to think I was scared, either. Look on the bright side, at least it didn't have any meat, right? I looked over at Thor, who was downing large mouthfuls of food. Thor was eating it. It couldn't be too bad, right? But, then again, I was pretty sure Thor would eat just about anything. I sighed, looking at my plate again. Finally, I picked up the wrap and took a bite. Well, it wasn't horrible. Though it wasn't something I'd willingly eat again, at least it didn't make me want to gag. Clint was the next one to start eating. He grabbed one of something that slightly resembled nachos, but definitely weren't, and stuck it in his mouth. He didn't look thrilled, but, apparently, it wasn't bad enough that he wouldn't eat it. He kept on reading the book, eating all the while. Natasha was the next and last one to start eating. She looked at it for a moment, looking hesitant to actually eat it. But, she took one of the same things Clint was eating, and stuck it in her mouth. She didn't look disgusted, but she didn't look too thrilled, either. Cap didn't eat anything. He just sat there, resting his head on his hand, taking a sip of his drink every once in a while. When we were finished, Tony paid the woman, and even gave her a little extra for the trouble of serving us while trying to clean up the restaurant.

"Thank you, my friends. Come again any time." the woman told us.

"Thank you, ma'am." Cap said to her before we walked out the door.


End file.
